The Heart of a Wielder (Book One of The Wielders Trilogy) ✔️

Chapter Ten

Maren spent a great deal of time after her conversation with the Prince trying to make sense of it all. In a way, nothing had changed, she had only become aware of things that had already been happening, but her perception of both princes had changed so radically that it was hard to keep track.

She had not liked Prince Kieran on the occasions they'd interacted. Now that she knew more, she thought it was perhaps some sort of animalistic instinct that was warning her of danger. And he was far more dangerous than she had previously thought.

She still shuddered to think about stealing powers. It was the most horrible thing she could imagine. And truly she could not imagine just how horrible it would be to have the Light, her Light, ripped out of her body. She'd sooner have her heart torn out.

She had thought that execution or perhaps torture followed by execution would be the worst end she might meet. But she was wrong. Execution would be far preferable to having her powers stolen.

She resolved to avoid Prince Kieran as much as possible, but wasn't sure that would be enough. 

Her perception of Prince Donovan had also changed radically. He certainly was under no obligation whatsoever to share what he knew. He had said he felt indebted to her, but she was not convinced that fully accounted for everything he had said.

She found the concept of an alliance intriguing. She had never considered that someone else would ever be on her side. Her parents, of course, loved her, but they preferred to pretend she was not a Wielder. And Karlyn had helped her tremendously, but it was in the role of teacher and guide, not as an equal.

But apparently, at least concerning the matter with Prince Kieran, Prince Donovan saw her at least more or less as an equal. Truly, that was shocking.

She knew he had taken her into his household despite — or rather, as she now understood, because of what she was — but that didn't mean he had to treat her well. And to be fair, he hadn't harmed her, but he hadn't been particularly kind either.

But he had apologized to her, even though she was a witch. If she had been a more suspicious person, she likely would have thought he was trying to trick her for some reason.  But he had seemed completely genuine in everything he had said to her.

And he had given her an oath. It was not about anything to do with witches or powers, but he had honored it completely, even though he was under no real obligation to do so. It wasn't as though she'd be able to tell anyone he'd broken it if he had. Still, she thought it rather compelling evidence that he was truly an honorable man, even when it came to do with her.

What a surprise.

She wasn't sure what to do with her new perception of the Prince, though. She could now see of course why it was important to pretend to be actual lovers — if Prince Kieran knew the true reason Prince Donovan had taken her, she would have her powers stolen to be sure. But beyond the public pretense, how should she interact with the Prince? Continued bland civility? Should she be more candid with him? Should she be friendly?

She felt that the safest choice was to continue with bland civility, at least until he demonstrated otherwise. Which was precisely what she planned to do until just a few days after their talk, when she failed at that entirely.

The failure wasn't entirely her fault, she was simply too furious to be blandly civil. Although, interestingly enough, for the first time since coming to the palace, she was furious with someone apart from the Prince.

She had decided she desperately needed to ride a horse. At home, she rode at least a few times a week, and going almost two months without riding felt like an eternity.